Axle load capacities of railroads vary from one railroad to another. A first railroad may be able to withstand a heavy axle load of a locomotive while a second railroad may be able to withstand a lighter axle load as compared to the first railroad. However, each axle of a locomotive may need to conform to the axle load capacity requirements of the railroad at all instants of time.
Typically, industrial locomotives may be used to pull cargo containers. Conventional methods of complying cargo containers with two or more railroads of different axle load capacities may typically involve transferring contents from larger cargo containers to smaller containers or vice-versa so that individual axle loads associated with each container may comply with the new axle load capacity of the onward railroad. However, an axle load on each axle of the locomotive may still remain unchanged and hence be non-compliant with the axle load capacity of the railroad. Hence, an overall weight of the locomotive may also need to be modified in order to make the individual axles of the locomotive compliant with the varying axle load capacities of the railroad.
U.S. application Ser. No. 12/899,670 relates to an improved rail system fuel tender for use with one or more railroad locomotives capable of transporting a plurality of fuel containers. The fuel containers are suitable for containing pressurized fuel and directly fueling the one or more locomotives. The improved fuel tender may be powered by the locomotives to increase tractive effort, and the fuel containers may be separately fillable and separately removable from the fuel tender.